Attention is a prerequisite of good memory, and in fact there can be no memory at all unless some degree of attention is given.  The degree of memory depends upon the degree of attention and interest.  And when it is considered that the work of today is made efficient by the memory of things learned yesterday, the day before yesterday, and so on, it is seen that the degree of attention given today regulates the quality of the work of tomorrow.

Some authorities have described Genius as the result of great powers of attention, or, at least, that the two seem to run together.  Some writer has said that “possibly the best definition of genius is the power of concentrating upon some one given subject until its possibilities are exhausted and absorbed.” Simpson has said that “The power and habit of thinking closely and continuously upon the subject at hand, to the exclusion, for the time, of all other subjects, is one of the principal, if, indeed, not the principal, means of success.” Sir Isaac Newton has told us his plan of absorbing information and knowledge.  He has stated that he would keep the subject under consideration before him continually, and then would wait till the first dawning of perception gradually brightened into a clear light, little by little.  A mental sunrise, in fact.

That sage observer, Dr. Abercrombie, has written that he considered that he knew of no more important rule for rising to eminence in any profession or occupation than the Ability to do one thing at a time, avoiding all distracting and diverting objects or subjects, and keeping the leading matter continually before the mind.  And others have added that such a course will enable one to observe relations between the subject and other things that will not be apparent to the careless observer or student.

The degree of Attention cultivated by a man is the degree of his capacity for intellectual work.  As we have said, the “great” men of all walks of life have developed this faculty to a wonderful degree, and many of them seem to get results “intuitively,” whereas, in truth, they obtain them by reason of their concentrated power of Attention, which enables them to see right into the center of a subject or proposition—­and all around it, back and front, and all sides, in a space of time incredible to the man who has not cultivated this mighty power.  Men who have devoted much attention to some special line of work or research, are able to act almost as if they possessed “second sight,” providing the subject is within their favorite field of endeavor.  Attention quickens every one of the faculties—­the reasoning faculties—­the senses—­the deriding qualities—­the analytical faculties, and so on, each being given a “fine edge” by their use under a concentrated Attention.